moderate at times, coming out of fremont heading out of the sunol grade towards milpitas one west that will head into the sunol grade behind it san leandro, hayward across the san mateo bridge towards redwood city heading towards san jose, sunnyvale and mountain view, american canyon, vallejo across 80, benicia, hercules, el cerrito heading towards pleasant hill, walnut creek, across marin headlands will hit san francisco in 10 minutes already getting a shower from there daly city, south san francisco to pacifica. scattered showers today, low to mid 50s. good morning. past golden gate fields and university avenue, berkeley into emeryville, getting a little busy 80 westbound still moving nicely into the macarthur maze. no delays at the bay bridge toll, wet on the golden gate

bridge this morning and light traffic conditions. down three lanes in the southbound direction, two north light week this week traffic wise between christmas sonoma flooding 121, 12 closed at 8th in shellville area due to road being closed and flooded. terry mcsweeney will have an update in a bit. south 101 washington petaluma clearing stages of that accident could be cleared by now. north 680 at mckey, accident in san jose, first reports east al 0 at eden canyon of an accident. -- you just said it, at 121 and 12 still impassable. terry mcsweeney is there with more on when the intersection might reopen. >> reporter: the best i can give you is sometime today. folks here did not get what they wanted for christmas, a new road. every time they have heavy downpours and high tide this is what happens here at 12 and

121. pictures from last night give you a better idea of what it looks like cars couldn't get through, too much water, combination of the down poeur and high tide sometimes -- downpour and high tide, american canyon, water piled up highway 12 and red top road, same story in richmond, over on mcdonald avenue, same story in berkeley probably wherever it was you were yesterday you had a moment of downpour, then there is what the story of people who didn't have enough water. >> we have bottle water. >> reporter: a woman who lives in marin county near mount tam last night the water main broke and there she was with water, water, everywhere not a drop to drink except for bottled water she had.

another problem on summit road they are concerned when the main broke it might have done damage under the lanes they will check that out it was closed for a time overnight. here at 12 and 121 its is the same old story, closed. -- opening sometime later today. terry mcsweeney, abc7 news. if you are heading through the santa cruz mountains today you might want to give yourself extra time to get where you are going hillsides are sat waited, prone to rock and mudslides like one near -- boulder creek, crews are on alert. stay with abc7 news for continuing coverage on the showers. you can track the wet weather any time with live doppler 7 hd at abc7news.com. 6:04. severe weather throughout the south is blamed for three deaths. video of a tornado touching down near mobile, alabama last night. the tornado blew out transformers leaving thousands without power and damaged

homes, high school and a church several injuries are reported this is one of 30 tornadoes that hit the gulf coast region yesterday, coming up, we'll have more on the tornadoes in the south plus the other severe weather that could impact holiday travel. happening right now, the day after christmas that means a lot of you will be heading back to the mall this morning to take advantage of after christmas sales. at the hillsdale shopping center in san mateo some stores like old navy are open now. has been open an hour. big deals today, stores are trying to turn around disappointing holiday sales with deep discounts. new report says holiday sales did increase but only by .7% over the last year. many shoppers will be making returns today. they are advised to check return policies carefully. target is among the stores that has changed its policy this year. the big box retailer has a 30 day return window for

electronics, down from four five days previously. the 30 day -- 30 day window does not start until today applies to all purchased after november 1st. we are learning more about the christmas eve outage that disrupted netflix. we told you yesterday the los gatos-based company blamed the outage on amazon's cloud service now netflix is explaining further saying the failure was due to issues at the amazon web services cloud computing center in virginia the outage lasted into christmas netflix is trying to figure out how to prevent a similar outage in the future. the season of giving is not over. how about a free ride? to celebrate 100 years in service muni is giving complimentry rides this weekend, bus, light rail, cable cars and street cars. the deal begins 5 a.m. friday until 5 a.m. saturday many muni is the country's oldest

publicly owned transit system and as it does every year, muni will offer the trips on new year's eve as well. traffic and weather together are next on the abc7 morning news. here's a live look outside at the golden gate bridge, meteorologist mike nicco will have your full forecast. we'll also check with sue hall in the traffic center. also, paid to be fit. the new plan now under consideration in san francisco to get city employees in shape.

welcome back. port of oakland towards san francisco around at&t 80 to daly city, colma, moderate shower now. castro valley moderate shower also sliding down across the dumbarton bridge towards redwood city woodside towards los altos, palo alto and going to make night mountain view and into san jose. a few more scattered showers to the authority, sliding to the southeast. today we are going to have waves of light to moderate showers temperatures in the low to mid 50s. lots of rain in the bay area lots of snow in the

sierra, chain requirements live shot of tate, truckee scales, snow on the -- road piled up on the side of the road great for skiers not good for drivers now if you are headed there patience and flexible schedule is key as well as chains and/or four wheel drive. closer to home, mass transit delays, caltrain southbound train delay due to mechanical problems, ace 1 delay into san jose with mechanical problems bart is on time. accident north 680 at mckey. 6:11. san francisco city officials could soon pay workers to take care of themselveses away to save on health care. the city is trying to come up with a plan in response to a recent study that found at least 66% of workers were overweight or obese and so were 35% of their kids. the plan is expected to include financial incentives

to stay in shape. 7 on your side and consumer reports take a look at home theater systems. first tornado outbreak -- [ inaudible ]

welcome back. good morning i'm meteorologist mike nicco. san rafael, sir francis drake boulevard, larkspur down 101 towards donahue street and tiburon, sausalito and belvedere some of the better radar returns now more

guerneville, occidental, that area, bodega bay, heading towards windsor, sliding towards santa rosa, cotati and petaluma waves of showers continue this morning and will continue into the afternoon temperatures in the low to mid 50s. a break from the rain tomorrow light rain develops friday afternoon, better chance of rain saturday. 6:15. people from texas to alabama are surveying damage this morning after severe storms triggered more than 30 tornadoes christmas day. blizzard-like conditions in the nation's heartland could make travel difficult. wendy gillette joins us live from new york city. >> reporter: good morning. the national weather service has received reports of 34 tornadoes in four states, now this powerful system is moving east. this is just one of more than 30 reported tornadoes that

touched down on christmas day. leaving heavy damage. this one roared through alabama -- mobile, alabama tearing down parts of the church and downtown businesses. another twister hit mississippi, blowing insulation into trees and%khç peeling back walls of homes. there were some injuries reported, no deaths. >> judging from some of the damage we witnessed today it is a miracle that no one was hurt any worse than they were. >> reporter: further east in the state in stone county, theresa and her boyfriend took shelter in their truck. >> started jerking us and spinning us. >> reporter: the same fast-moving storms brought braise -conditions to parts of the country's mid section, causing 21 vehicle pile-up in oklahoma city, the system is

heading east bringing treacherous conditions on the day after christmas, often a business travel day. enough of a threat for some in clevelandg#z to stock up. >> i'm ready to go. >> get what we needed and go home. >> reporter: the storms are blamed for at least three deaths in three states, texas, louisiana and oklahoma. we have to tell you about numerous flight cancellations, 300 today because of this storm system. also, many power outages 280,000 customers across the country without power this morning. wendy gillette. >> what a mess, thank you wendy. i guess we shouldn't complain about the rain we are getting here. >> damage has been minimal country. as we look down once again

from the east bay hills on to san francisco, raining there, drops forming therez(!z on vollr peak. live doppler is still picking up widely scattered light to moderate showers. everybody in line with these as they are going to head northwest to southeast over if you are heading out any time today, be prepared for the wet weather. you can see pulling away from hayward and union city towards dublin and sanol and pulling froóío

the dumbarton bridge towarding 237 is where your next shower is only a matter of moments before it gets there. santa rosa 39°, rest of us in the mid to upper 40s, 50 half moon bay. monterey bay and inland low to mid 40s, monterey 50. today light to moderate showers all day. brief break tomorrow, one day, light rain friday better chance of wet weather saturday. warm front yesterday long duration rain, cold front comes in more showery in nature, stronger, burst of heavier rain now on the back side of this low, counterclockwise flow wrapping around moisture bringing it off the ocean making it unstable the low is the center of rising air with it so near rising air and showers continue through 5:00, 7:00, instability out over the ocean tomorrow looking at a lot of

sunshine rainfall amounts 10th to quarter of an inch for most of the bay. not a flood producer. thursday is dry, friday afternoon into saturday, light rain coming in, looks like sunday through tuesday, we end the year dry and begin next year dry. good morning. short workweek, sorry you have to work today, here we are with traffic for bay bridge everybody moving nicely no delays into san francisco, no metering lights yet, no problems upper deck into the city. eastbound 580 eden canyon accident cleared to the shoulder no delays towards dublin south 8 omi 'tis dixon landing pick -- south 880, dix -- boxes this is basco road in brentwood,e@ms÷ east contra cosa

count , solo spin-out on the shoulder, traffic may be slowing as they get a tow truck out of there. you can download this map, it is free from the google -- new tv you got for christmas maycl.t look great, bt how does it sound? michael finney and consumer reports look at home theater systems and the convenient option that could save you money. we are still tracking the storm bringing showers to the bay area this morning. we will check back with meteorologist nike cope

welcome back. doppler radar across the state higher elevation snow, lower elevation scattered showers 50s until you get to l.a., palm springs and san diego, 60 there. chains in the sierra. if you got a new high-def tv for christmas you might be considering a new surgeon sound system to go with it. >> mike -- new surround sound system to go with it.

>> reporter: watching movies in your living room with surround sound is great, getting set-up can set you back big bucks. home theater in a box systems can save you money and hassle. consumer reports tested dozens that cost from $250 to nearly $2,000. a real movie buff getting sound that does justice to his big screen was a must. >> i was able to get digital high-definition receiver and all the speakers and the subwoofers to go with it, now i have movie theater quality sound and picture in my own home. >> reporter: he bought his stereo component separately. another option home theater in a box system with all the components you need, center channel speaker two specker for the front of the room, another set for the back of the room -- and a subwoofer to enhance the bass. many systems come with a blue ray player. >> the advantage is all

components come in one box, everything matches and less than buying separately. >> reporter: in the audio lab testers use reference speaker system to judge sound quality. the good news, the quality of the systems improved. >> used to mean if you bought a home theater in a box system you had to compromise on audio quality that true any more. models we testified had quality that approached those of buying separate components. >> reporter: 800 from samsung is among them, terrific sound, blue ray player and ipod dock so you can listen to your itunes library as well. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: i'm michael finney, 7 on your side. we are on storm watch. delays drivers face on the main road to reno following heavy snow christmas day and what to expect today.

explosion rocks south of market neighborhood in san francisco, what led to the blast. >> reporter: christmas is over, shopping isn't, the deals are huge we'll tell you about them, where you can find good deals, coming up. you can see traffic is holiday light at the bay bridge toll, no metering lights, no problems here, chains required both on 80 and 50 in the sierra. if you do have to work today, short workweek, we'll be back with the rest of your wednesday morning commute after the break on abc7 news.

very merry morning after christmas day everyone it is 6:29 on degrees 26th, thanks for starting -- on december 26th, thanks for starting your day with us. the rain is coming down in the parking lot there of the old navy which opened early for those looking for discounts or maybe to return a few things. you have to brave the rain if you want to be among the post christmas shopping set. i'm katie marzullo in for kristen sze this morning. i'm eric thomas. that shopping center has been open or at last old navy for an hour and a half now. good morning. here's a look at scattered showers this morning many south bay from 237 lawrence expressway, great american parkway towards montague expressway getting wet now. from san leandro, hayward across the san mateo bridge back to san mateo where our

camera shot was right there into belmont and redwood city light shower roll through the heart of san francisco near cesar chavez towards south san francisco, possibly daly city and colma, another shower bodega bay o dental heading towards santa rosa, -- occidental, heading towards santa rosa all the way down to marin and across the rest of our neighborhoods will have waves of showers today. we have a shine on our camera, the san mateo bridge you can see rain is falling on the roadway, traffic getting busier westbound, tail lights towards the highrise and foster city into the san mateo area, eastbound a good ride, hayward direction, nozu problems there as well. south 88 omi 'tis dixon

disson landing road, you may find slowing slowing westbound 84 at university dumbarton bridge, stall blocking right lane, new accident to report north 280 at westboro blocking left lane. happening now, shoppers are expected to crowd into bay area stores today to return unwanted gifts and score new bargains. amy hollyfield joins us live in a rainy san mateo. >> reporter: good morning. the doors are already open at this old navy. i don't know maybe people are tired of shopping, sleeping in from christmas morning or they don't want to deal with the rain there are not huge crowds only huge deals. there is big deals on winter clothing, a common item we see up to 7'-- up to 75% today,

sales on electronics. check out this -- there's --&mm] michael's craft stores today, 70% off throughout the store. children's place we found a pair of girls utility pants for one dollar. old navy open at 5:00 this morning, 75% off throughout the store. retailers are hoping to make up for what wasn't a great holiday season. their loss is your gain. the doors are open. amy hollyfield, abc7 news. tune in to

"good morning america" at 7:00 this morning,-÷w a!ecky will hae more on biggest deals today. watch, drivers traveling i-80 face big delays. caltrans who to shutdown the road several times last night because of hazardous driving conditions, delays as long as two hours when the interstate reopened drivers had to follow to avoid skidding. ben lomond is where many sandbags were needed you can see the water build-up in the main part of town yesterday people there say they are used to getting soaked our crew got stuck in the mud. >> all this rain mass brought if flooding ind!eh some areas in sonoma county high water forced road closures highway 12 at 121 in shellville remains closed for now south

of pomona. in east palo alto, people ÷ san francisquito creek arew% hoping the rains won't bring flooding

. oakland police looking who shot and wounded a church parishioner and teenager. monday night gunfire erupted outside a church on macarthur boulevard the target was a 17-year-old boy who left a liquor store, next to the church he was wounded stray gunfire peppered the church and wounded a woman inside listening to a sermon. the teen and woman who was shielding her children are both expected to recover. manhole cover explosion forced closure of a san francisco intersection those sounds like popcorn popping came from a fire in an underground vault the fire cast -- was caused by equipment fire last night. the fire was put out quickly

and no outages as a result. traffic and weather together, next on the abc7 morning news. live look outside, bay bridge toll, metering lights not on, traffic very light. sue hall is checking traffic around the bay area. mike nicco will have the full forecast. back to the mainland. reason president obama is cutting his hawaiian christmas

doppler showing a shower pulling away from most of san francisco near candlestick now going to head towards san leandro, possibly hayward we are just now starting to dry out showers moving towards union city and fremont towards

south of redwood city, heading towards places like san jose and alum rock where we have wet weather now on the capital expressway. north more showers headed our way waves of showers today, temperatures in the 40s now, low to mid 50s this afternoon showers taper as we head overnight, dry day tomorrow before more light rain friday afternoon and more likely saturday. good morning. update we have chain requirements for 50 and 83 through the sierra. 80 -- 80 did close a couple of times right now wide open with chain requirements or four wheel dry, caltrain southbound ñ 102 towards san jose and ace 1 just about to arrive, 1015 minutes late, ace 3 on time, northbound 680 mcquito -- tow truck trying to get

that cleared -- . president obama cuts short his hawaii want vacation. trading underway on wall street. right now the dow up 32 points.

still tracking showers live doppler storm watch mode watching them slide southeast from the northwest, looks like no matter where you travel today wet weather is a possibility across the state and high elevation snow. low 60s in southern california. low to mid 30s through the sierra with the snow, two to four more inches above 4,000 feet, trachy travel through 4:00 this afternoon. north bay intersection shutdown, flood waters impassable at highways 12 and 121. terry mcsweeney is live there. >> reporter: today is when it will reopen they say can't tell you the exact hour. road closed flooded that's the story here. pictures from last night this is why the road was closed --

>> we apologize for the microphone levels there. as you heard terry say it going to reopen later today, the time is the part we don't know yet. christmas day storms throughout the south blamed for three deaths and several injuries one twister caught on video in mobile, alabama the tornado left thousands without power damaged homes, high school and church this morning it is estimated 34 tornadoes hit the deep south as the storm moves northeast today, travel is expected to be a mess for flyers heading home. president obama cutting short his christmas holiday in hawaii to resume talks on averting the fiscal cliff. the president and the first lady spent part of christmas visiting troops at the marine base in honolulu. the president will be back in d.c. tomorrow morning. lawmakers have less than a week to agree on now to avert

cuts. starbucks is hoping a few keywords will encourage republicans and democratses to reach a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff. this morning the ceo shulz asked all of his washington, d.c. employees to , come together. >> if you are looking to turn that ugly sweater -- to return that ugly sweater from aunt imagine, today may not be the best -- day. good morning. more signs of recovery in the housing market numbers show home prices climbed in the 12 months through october by the most in more than two years more than 4% gain if you look on the month-to-month increase, san francisco coming in number

five, las vegas had the biggest monthly gain. christmas is over, let the returns begin. if you received any gifts you don't want, you might want to wait a few days to return it. today is the worst days to do returns because the lines are longest, store clerks burned out. in the markets, pretty quiet at the moment]ó;o, slight gains for the benchmark averages as well as bloomberg index, a lot of wait and see. as people unwrap new gifts a green citizen says don't forget to recycle old electronics, it expects to see a 30% rise in e-waste between now and february, the biggest buying time for most consumer

electronics that. is business news live at the new york stock exchange i'm ellen brightman, bloomberg news. we want to take you back outside live in sonoma county, where terry mcsweeney is standing by. we had microphone issues a moment ago but he's back. >> reporter: still closed they are going to reopen today the best i can give you now. you can see behind me, nobody getting through. pictures from last night this is the situation that happens frequently up here, not just the rain, it is also the high tide, kind of like northbound 101 at highway 1 exit in marin, flooding there even when there is no rain. wasn't just here yesterday, american canyon the water came down highway 12 and red top road the same story in richmond on mcdonald avenue, going to berkeley the same story. it was coming didn't like crazy northbound 280 near 380

last night about 6:00, one man or probably many others and women too has had enough. >> i'm from the bay area so i'm couldn't of used to it, but definitely rough. >> reporter: you will be happy to see the rain go?7jf3÷ >> yes i'm ready for the summer. >> reporter: still got about 85 days of winter then spring before he gets his wish. in marin÷"=v county last night, some were without water when a main burst on summit road and it was not jut a matter of some people being without water, it was a matter of how badly sum -- summit road may have been damaged by the water that rushed by and knocked out some of the dirt under that road, that is being checked. for much of the night, a number of people up there did not have any water. here at 12 and 121 things get back to seminormal sometime today, that's the best i can

do for you. terry mcsweeney, abc7 news. time for news about the weather, when the rain is going to stop and start. start and stop that's the type of rain we have, good point. from sutro tower towards some of the thicker clouds over the east bay hills and east bay now up in the north bay near terry, i put a red dot where 121 and 12 come together, quiet now. that rain over cotati and heading southeast that will rain on terry in about few minutes and also petaluma eventually novato and san rafael to sausalito. showers still scattered, out there, around alum rock, clayton road, east capital destroy, tully road, ruby avenue gettingl?ç: -- fremont,

sunol grade, mission boulevard, 80 and 680 where+a they get close to meeting, towards mountain view about to get wet. fruitvale avenue, redwood dive, high street, foothill boulevard all that around oakland heading towards san leandro getting wet, the movement of this more stuff developing to the northwest and sliding to the southeast, start and stop, waves of showers today. 39 santa rosa, 50 half moon bay, most of us in the mid to upper 40s. 50 monterey. light to moderate showers today. not an all day rain, showers, off and on, brief break tomorrow wet weather friday afternoon into saturday yesterday we had thehyc warm front go through, long duration rain cold front comes through we get showers now that has passed unstable air near the area of rising air which is the low pressure that is creating instability for these showers on the back side

of that low with its counterclockwise flow moving northwest to southeast through the noon hour and 5:00, once the sunsets best instability over the ocean tomorrow morning clear sky, in the 30s and 40s with thick frost, possibly patchy fog in our valleys, thursday partly cloudy and 50s once again. increasing clouds friday and light rain in the afternoon and evening, better chance of measureable rain saturday, sunday, monday tuesday, dry. still snowing into the -- in the sierra with chain requirements 50 and 80. 50 requirements to pines 80 at gold run fyi. san rafael southbound 101 headlights towards the civic center past marin ymca north%u%b san pedro road, out of novato no delays towards the golden gate bridge, no fog,

wet roads, pretty much the key for this morning. slick roads, wet roads it was raining a bit ago at the golden gate bridge not at this moment, waves of showers expected, puddling standing water a big problem this morning due to at water we've had. north 280 at westboro that accident slowing things up the peninsula towards san francisco. some of your drive times not bad over the altamont pass into pleasanton, 101 out of santa rosa into novato less than 20 minutes, 92 san mateo bridge from hayward towards san mateo, 15 minutes. ahead, five things to know before you go. the news that returns in 60 seconds, stay with us.

. aro know before you go:

number one, retailers are hoping for a busy day as shoppers take advantage of day after christmas deals. some stores are opening early like old navy in san mateo opened almost two hours ago. the season was disand ing for many retailers. number -- number two, wet christmas has left much of the bay area saturated and part of it sliding. people in the santa cruz mountains are dealing with mud and rock slides. crews are scrambling to keep roads clear. >> number three, three people were killed, many more injured after 34 possible tornadoesf>h1m hit the south yesterday. we have video that shows a tornado hitting mobile, alabama that storm is expecp8,. to create problems for people trying to get÷ññ home after christmas. óp president obama cutting his hawaiian 3 vacation short to gt back to work in washington.

he will meet with congressional leaders for if can talks. -- number five, today is the first day of kwanzaa, the seven day festival honors african-american heritage and culture. here in the bay area celebration gets underway at 10:00 at the""rhy discovery musm in sausalito. time check of your forecast. live doppler 7 hd showing scattered showers that will continue throughout the better part of today. they haven't caused delays at sfo, oakland nor san jose we'll keep an eye on it. breaks in the cover now. partly sunny today, chance of showers all day, temperatures in the low to mid 50s. quiet week since we have ak short week and holiday week, bay bridge toll no delays, no metering lights yet. if you are traveling on 80 westbound through berkeley, headlight there is, you are crowded but still moving into

the macarthur maze no major delays there. first reports of an accident westbound san mateo bridge, beware of that at theñí[x2 toll.  napa where terry mcsweeney has been reporting all morning of flooding at highway 12, ñs reopened. >> that just in. the abc7 morning news continues in 25 minutes with news, weather and traffic during "good morning america." >> we are always on at abc7news.com. also where you can find live also where you can find live doppler 7 hd. captioned by closed captioning services, inc.

good morning, america. breaking overnight, killer storm. tornadoes hit the gulf coast with more than 30 twisters touching down. >> oh, wow. oh, look at that tornado. >> leaving thousands without power. and it's not over yet. whiteout. 21 states under snow warnings, from texas to maine. the downfall causing highway pileups. and threatening to bring holiday travel to a halt. and get ready. a massive nor'easter is on the way. sam is here with the latest. and the chilling note left by the killer in rochester, new york, who targeted the firefighters as they responded to that massive fire. the gruesome reason he set his neighborhood aflame. and a million-dollar mixup.